12 Alison Gross
I
O Alison Gross, that lives in yon tow’r,
The ugliest witch i’ the north countrie,
Has trysted115 me ae day up till her bow’r
And mony fair speeches she made to me.
II
She straik’d my head an’ she kaim’d my hair,
An’ she set me down saftly on her knee;
Says, ‘Gin ye will be my lemman sae true,
Sae mony braw things as I would you gie!’
III
She show’d me a mantle o’ red scarlét,
Wi’ gouden flowers an’ fringes fine;
Says, ‘Gin ye will be my lemman116 sae true,
This gudely gift it sall be thine.’—
IV
‘Awa’, awa’, ye ugly witch,
Haud117 far awa’, an’ lat me be!
I never will be your lemman sae true,
An’ I wish I were out o’ your company.’
V
She neist brought a sark o’ the saftest silk,
Well wrought wi’ pearls about the band;
Says, ‘Gin ye will be my lemman sae true,
This gudely gift ye sall command.’
VI
She show’d me a cup o’ the good red gowd,
Well set wi’ jewels sae fair to see;
Says, ‘Gin ye will be my lemman sae true,
This gudely gift I will you gie.’—
VII
‘Awa’, awa’, ye ugly witch,
Haud far awa’, an’ lat me be!
For I wouldna once kiss your ugly mouth
For a’ the gifts that ye could gie.’
VIII
She’s turn’d her right an’ roun’ about,
An’ thrice she blaw on a grass-green horn;
An’ she sware by the moon an’ the stars abune
That she’d gar me rue the day I was born.
IX
Then out has she ta’en a silver wand,
An’ she’s turn’d her three times roun’ and roun’;
She mutter’d sic words till my strength it fail’d,
An’ I fell down senseless upon the groun’.
X
She’s turn’d me into an ugly worm,
And gar’d me toddle about the tree;
An’ ay, on ilka Saturday’s night,
My sister Maisry came to me,
XI
Wi’ silver bason an’ silver kaim
To kaim my headie upon her knee;
But or I had kiss’d [wi’ Alison Gross]
I’d sooner ha’ toddled about the tree.
XII
But as it fell out, on last Hallowe’en,
When the Seely Court118 was ridin’ by,
The Queen lighted down on a gowany119 bank
Nae far frae the tree where I wont to lye.
XIII
She took me up in her milk-white han’,
An’ she’s straik’d me three times o’er her knee;
She changed me again to my ain proper shape,
An’ nae mair I toddle about the tree.
Footnotes
115 trysted = invited.
116 lemman = sweetheart.
117 haud = hold, keep.
118 Seely Court = the Happy Court (of the Fairies).
119 gowany = daisied.